


There's Always Puppies

by AwakeAndAliveSpartan



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Puppy Bowl fic, S2 Divergence AU, That's all you really need to know.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 22:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13556625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwakeAndAliveSpartan/pseuds/AwakeAndAliveSpartan
Summary: Grant may not in the greatest of places right now, but there's one thing that never fails to make him happy:The Puppy Bowl.





	There's Always Puppies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jellybean96](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellybean96/gifts).



“Hey, Trip. Have you seen Grant anywhere?”

Trip looked up and frowned as he saw Skye coming towards him. He shook his head, “Not recently. The last I saw him he was in the common room watching TV.” he answered. “Knowing him, he hasn’t moved from that spot since. And that was a couple of hours ago.”

Skye sighed, “I really didn’t mean to leave him alone this long, but Coulson was pretty insistent on having me finish all of that hack work.” she stated. “Hopefully he’s still okay. Maybe having Max with him kept him calm enough.”

“Hey, do you think he’ll be up to watching the game with me, Mack, Hunter, and Fitz later?” Trip asked before Skye could turn around. “Wait, does he even like football?”

“Honestly? I really don’t know. I just know that he hates the Patriots, so watching the game is a no go for him, probably.”

“Why would he not want to watch the game?”

“All I can assume is that it has something to do with his childhood. He  _is_ from Massachusetts afterall. He probably hates anything that reminds him of where he lives.”

Trip’s face fell, “Oh, okay. Then I won’t bother. I don’t want to upset him with something so trivial.” he responded. “That’ll only be bad news for him.”

Skye smiled slightly, “Yeah, probably. I’ll probably end up finding something for him to do later. Hell, he might be asleep by then. He did have a therapist session earlier.” She turned around, “Thanks for the hint.”

“No problem.”

Skye made her way towards the lounge, stopping just as she got right outside the door. She could hear the TV going and someone talking. Frowning, she gently cracked the door open so she could hear.

“I wanna be him.”

Skye blinked and frowned, hearing Grant’s voice. What was he talking about?

“Who?” she heard Fitz ask. Fitz was in there with Grant too? Grant was still hesitant about being around Fitz. Even though they had made up over a month ago.

“Him.”

“T-The, uh, referee?”

“Yeah. I wanna be him. He gets paid to play with puppies for a few hours. And I bet it’s a lot of money, too. I wanna be the Puppy Bowl referee.”

Skye’s heart fluttered with Grant’s statement. Ever since his mental breakdown, he was extremely timid and soft spoken. He always found some way or another to tickle her as well. A complete 180 of who he used to be.

She gently pushed her way into the lounge, Grant jumping up as soon as he noticed her. He carefully moved Max over to the cushion next to him so he could scoot over slightly in order for Skye to sit down. She smiled at him as she carefully sat down next to him. Looking over to the chair nearest the couch, she gave Fitz a small smile as well.

“What cha’ watching?” she asked, looking to the TV and, unsurprisingly, seeing puppies run across the screen. Grant always, if he could, was watching something about dogs. It helped to keep him calm and grounded, especially if he had a rough day.

“Puppy Bowl.” Grant muttered, turning his attention back to the TV. There was little that could tear him away from dogs, even Skye.

“Huh?” Skye looked towards Fitz for an answer, knowing that she wouldn’t get much of an answer from Grant.

Fitz shrugged, “I really don’t know.” he answered. “H-He was watching it when I, uh, came in here. Something with puppies acting like A-American football teams.”

“Figures.” Skye mumbled under her breath before looking back to Grant. She watched him silently for a few seconds, appreciating how calm he looked. He rarely looked peaceful anymore. There was always fear or panic shining within his eyes. So Skye always appreciated moments like this.

“They’re shelter dogs. They’ve either already been adopted or need to be adopted.” Grant suddenly said, not taking his gaze off of the screen. “They play around for a few hours so people can see them and they can get adopted. I like it.” He pointed at the fake referee on the screen, “I wanna be him.”

A small smile pulled at Skye’s lips, “So I heard.” she stated. “You’d be the perfect fit for it.” She blinked,  _ “Except for the fact that you hate being watched by others and would probably freak out as soon as you realized you’re being filmed. But the puppies are a plus though. But I think people would be paying more attention to you than the puppies. You certainly have the looks for TV.” _

“The puppies seem really nice.” Grant mumbled, slowly nodding. “But not as nice as Max.” He turned his head slightly and petted the black shepherd’s head, “He should’ve been in the Puppy Bowl. But he’s too big now, even though he’s still a puppy.”

“He’s like five months old, Grant. He’s not even fully grown yet.”

“Yeah, but he’d trample the other puppies. Look at them, he’s a lot bigger than them.” Grant protested, a slight pout on his face. “And he likes to play rough. You know that.”

Skye slightly laughed, “I think Max would prefer just to stay with you where it’s calm. He’s kind of like you after all.” She reached over Grant and gently petted the puppy on the top of his head. Max huffed in pleasure and laid his head on Grant’s thigh once Skye stopped.

“Yeah.” Grant looked back to the TV. “It’s nice and quiet here. Especially when the others leave me alone. Except Mack and Trip. And Fitz.” he added, looking at the young engineer out of the corner of his eye. “They’re nice.”

Fitz smiled slightly. It was still hard for him to be around Grant sometimes, but he was still glad that he had given the man another chance. It was hard to believe that one man could go through so much suffering. Grant just needed help and Fitz was glad that Skye had been able to pull the man from the Vault. He just wished that Coulson and the others would give him another chance as well.

Grant grew silent again as he returned his attention solely to the puppies on the TV. A small smile pulled at his lips as he saw another German shepherd run across the screen. He ran his fingers gently through Max’s fur.

Skye knew that Grant probably wouldn’t talk much for the next while, but at least he was calm and peaceful. And he was also happy, which was a rarity in itself. So she really had to appreciate this moment because there was no telling when his mood would start to spiral. Which probably wouldn’t be very long from now.

“Anyone want something to eat?” Skye asked out loud, figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to have Grant eat a little something. She wasn’t even sure if he had eaten breakfast that morning. “I could go for a snack.”

“Popcorn?” Fitz suggested, seeing that Grant wasn’t responding. “M-Maybe make one, big bowl?”

Skye nodded and smiled, slowly getting up so she would disturb Grant, “That sounds good.” she stated, beginning to walk away. “I’ll be right back.” She stopped right in the doorway and turned around to look at Grant once more. Her heart fluttered again as she saw his small smile grow just a tiny bit as even more puppies ran across the screen.

_ “I’m so glad that you’re actually happy for once, Grant.”  _ she thought.  _ “I really wish that it could stay, but at least it’s for one moment. But you really deserve it. _

_ Thank God for puppies.” _

**Author's Note:**

> I know that I've done a Puppy Bowl Fic before, but I just had to do it for the AU me and a friend are doing right now. All you need to know about the AU is that Skye made Coulson free Grant from the Vault after seeing him have a violent mental breakdown. Now he's getting the help he always needed. I hoped that you enjoyed!


End file.
